Publisher: ‘A tax is a tax’

Voters often complain politicians don’t keep their promises. But Business Report Publisher Rolfe McCollister says Gov. Bobby Jindal has kept his promise and has not supported any new taxes, and that includes “renewals.” “It’s a bit ironic that many of the same people who don’t support new taxes will support a ‘renewal,’ arguing that this is not a new tax,” McCollister says. “If a tax is renewed, as the definition in the dictionary says, it is ‘to begin again.’ That means it must end in order to begin. So the taxes went down as the tax ended, and if renewed, the new tax started over, and our taxes went up.” McCollister says you can argue about the validity of the purpose of the tax, like the cigarette tax renewal Jindal vetoed, but “don’t be fooled into believing that a ‘renewal’ is not a new tax.” The column also chides The Associated Press for its “spin on the news.” To read the full column, click here. Send comments to editors@businessreport.com.